Judge dismisses Van Hollen's suit against GAB

[undeterred]

10/23/2008

By Greg Bump
WisPolitics.com

Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi this morning dismissed a suit the attorney general filed to force broader voter registration checks.

Sumi said the Government Accountability Board's decision to require HAVA checks on new voter registrants beginning Aug. 6, instead of Jan. 1, 2006, as J.B. Van Hollen requested, was not a violation of either state or federal law. She said nothing in state or federal statutes requires a "data-match" as a condition to vote.

Sumi said a voter has the legal right to cast a ballot, and "it doesn't matter if the DOT misspelled his name or her middle initial is missing on a list."

Department of Justice spokesman Kevin St. John said the attorney general intends to appeal, but will look over the decision before deciding which course to take. An appeal would normally go to the state Court of Appeals, but the DOJ could choose to expedite the matter by appealing directly to the state Supreme Court.

http://www.wispolitics.com/index.iml?Article=139704

[undeterred]

1. Thank you Judge Sumi

Judge throws out Van Hollen voter registration lawsuit
Steve Elbow — 10/23/2008 1:38 pm

Ruling that no federal or state law exists that makes cross-checking voter registrations necessary for a citizen to vote, a Dane County judge Thursday threw out a lawsuit by Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to force state election officials to verify the eligibility of voters before the Nov. 4 election.

"Nothing in state or federal law requires that there be a data match as a prerequisite for a citizen's right to vote," Judge Maryann Sumi said in dismissing Van Hollen's lawsuit.

Van Hollen spokesman Kevin St. John said the attorney general would appeal the ruling. "We disagree with the judge," he said, "but we respect her judgment."

With only 12 days until the election, there is little time for the appeal. "We'll just try to move the process along as quickly as we can," he said.

Van Hollen filed the lawsuit on Sept. 10 seeking to have the court order the state's Government Accountability Board to cross-check voter registration information with Department of Transportation, death and felony records dating back to Jan. 1, 2006, when the federal Help America Vote Act went into effect. The Government Accountability Board ordered the checks to be done for those who registered since Aug. 6 of this year, when the statewide voter registration database was up and running.

The Government Accountability Board has said the lawsuit could have required municipal clerks around the state, already busy with election issues, to check up to 1 million voter registrations.

Clerks could have been required to follow up on mismatches, sending letters or making phone calls to try to resolve the discrepancies. Initial checks have numbered in excess of 20 percent, mostly due to typographical errors in names or mismatches in driver's license and Social Security numbers.

Sumi ruled that Van Hollen didn't follow procedure by filing a complaint with the GAB, which would then hold a trial-type hearing on the merits of the complaint.

State law, she said, allows the state discretion on how to set up the complaint process. She also said that the laws require only that the state keep and maintain a voter list, but doesn't specify how that should be done.

She said Van Hollen's lawsuit asserted that the law require that voters' registration information
match records from other databases, but she couldn't require the cross-checks, as Van Hollen sought.

"The court is without the authority to create such a requirement," she said. She also said he had no standing to file the suit because the U.S. attorney general is charged with enforcing the Help America Vote Act.

The ruling validates the contention by Government Accountability Board attorney Lester Pines, who said in court Thursday that Van Hollen was seeking to decide election rules, a power that state law has handed the GAB. "This is a breathtaking assertion of power," he said of Van Hollen's attempt to force the registration checks.

The lawsuit drew stark lines between the state political parties, with the state GOP siding with Van Hollen and Democrats opposing the lawsuit, saying it was a partisan attempt to disenfranchise voters.

State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Wineke said the ruling takes away the ability of Republican poll watchers' ability to challenge voters at the polls. Republicans, he said, "played their card. They lost."

Sumi also made mention of a Republican Party request to order ID checks in Milwaukee, where the party contends widespread voter fraud occurred after workers for voter registration groups, mostly Democratic-leaning, falsified registration records. Those groups, most notably the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, have said those workers merely made up information for registration cards to meet quota guidelines. The group flagged those registration cards and turned in those workers.

Richard Saks, who intervened in the case on behalf of the NAACP of Milwaukee, said the requirement was discriminatory and would have disenfranchised a large number of poor and minority voters in Milwaukee, a Democratic stronghold.

Sumi said there was no evidence of criminal activity in those cases.

Sumi's decision comes on the heels of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion last week lifting a restraining order awarded by a lower court to the Ohio Republican Party that ordered the Ohio secretary of state to provide a list of all newly registered voters whose driver's license and Social Security numbers didn't match their names.

Sumi said the decision had implications to Van Hollen's lawsuit, and she said it caused the state GOP to "change its focus" in arguments Thursday.

http://www.madison.com/tct/top5/310907

[tanglefoot]

2. Yee Haw!

Had to believe it was coming. Just wish the decision had been made a little sooner.

[midnight]

3. Hot dog!!! I must memorize this line....

She said nothing in state or federal statutes requires a "data-match" as a condition to vote. Isn't this the AG that wants to stop frivilous law suites.

[undeterred]

4. Governor Doyle's statement:

Statement of Governor Doyle on Judge’s Ruling in Van Hollen Lawsuit

MADISON – Governor Jim Doyle released the following statement today:

“Today in a well-reasoned decision, Judge Maryann Sumi dismissed Attorney General JB Van Hollen's lawsuit against the nonpartisan public agency that oversees Wisconsin's elections – the Government Accountability Board. Judge Sumi was clear when she said both the Republican Attorney General and the Republican Party of Wisconsin have no authority to bring this suit.

“This decision echoes what the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided recently in a case in Ohio. The Government Accountability Board, not the Republican Attorney General, has the responsibility to supervise elections. The law in Wisconsin is clear.

“We know that Republicans all over the country have tried to remove qualified voters from the voting lists. And we know that nothing in state or federal law requires a data match for the right to vote. Innocent mistakes and typos cannot be exploited as a way to blockade one of the fundamental rights of our democracy – our right to vote.

“Wisconsin has a strong progressive tradition of protecting our right to vote. With today's decision, we can all move forward with a smooth, successful election. On November 4, each qualified voter will be able to go to the polls and exercise this right. I am confident that everything will go smoothly on Election Day and throughout the remainder of the early voting process.

“With so many critical issues at stake in this election, now is not the time for typical, partisan politics-as-usual. Democrats and Republicans must work together to ensure that everyone who is eligible to vote and wants to vote can do so without obstruction. Today's decision is a very important step forward in this important and historic election.”

http://www.wispolitics.com/1006/081023_DPW_doyle.pdf

:kick:

[goddess40]

5. We'd have Peg as AG

if Doyle would have stayed out of it by asking Falk to run.